


Run

by Faustitas_B



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Emotional, Family, Family Drama, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Light Angst, Sorry Not Sorry, specifically goldman brand family drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustitas_B/pseuds/Faustitas_B
Summary: A Short One-Shot (or POSSIBLE first chapter) following a Girlsie from Brooklyn, running away from everything she knows.





	Run

**Author's Note:**

> As a quick forewarning, this contains several OC characters and not many canon ones as of yet, but it establishes a universe I've been working on for a while.
> 
> Here, it's probably about a year or so before the Strike.
> 
> Everything else explaining this universe and the character relationships will be at the end.

This was it, she thought. Finally free to leave the makeshift prison Navy had spent years creating. Free to go by any name she wanted and dress however she felt.

Bess tried to leave as quietly as possible. It was the dead of night, everyone in the Bunkhouse -as they called it- fast asleep, ready for work in the morning. They got up early every day, so the general philosophy was to stay in bed as long as possible. Especially with all the ‘little-uns’ around as her elder sister called them.

Her elder sister. Navy. No, not Navy,  _ Alice. _ But then again she hadn't been Alice since she was ten, when there was nothing left for them in England and she'd dragged Bess by the ear to the land their father had spent years romanticising. Their early childhood had been spent listening quietly as their father regaled them with tales of the land he had gone to fight in during the cotton shortage.

_ ‘Bess, Alice. That land across the wide blue is better than anything left for us here. Here, a man breaks his back for the barest of pay- just enough to feed 'im and keep a leaky roof over ‘is head. Over there… the land stretches farther than the eye could ever see, wide open plains, thick forests. And ev’ry man who goes gets an acre of land to 'imself. One day we'll go, even if it kills me.’ _

Eighteen-Ninety-Three had been a hard year, indeed. But it had led her to where she stood now.

She crept forwards, cautious to avoid the scattered blankets and pillows so she wouldn't disturb any of the children. Bess padded across the room as slowly as possible. She could take her time, it was okay so long as she managed to avoid causing anyone to stir from slumber.

They had fled from Oldham the very same day their father died. First to the Northern central city of Manchester. Then following the yet-to-be-used ship canal to the port of Liverpool. It had been a hard few days for Elizabeth. They had taken the walk at a leisurely pace, allowing her to stop and cry every so often. Alice had been reserved and quiet, when she finally spoke it was to snap at her younger sister for being too slow.

_ Stop bloody narkin’. We're halfway there already. _

Eventually, she made it to the far end of the room. Lifting the one insecure floorboard next to her pile of belongings she quickly retrieved the men's clothes stored underneath and the money she had spent the last few months saving up. Fifty dollars. It could easily get her to the other end of the city without making much of a dent in the savings pile.

_ No, I’s not lettin ya go out dressed like that. Yer gonna sell in a dress or nowt. Conlon’s absolutely mad and you aren't tiny like the ones we send out. His boys’ll go right for you. They's testin’ the boundaries. _

She rolled her clothes together, tying them with short pieces of twine and packing them into her newspaper bag, making sure the main body of her savings was secured in the centre of the bundle.

_ I'm just keeping you safe, Bess. _

When she was happy with her work, she stood, hefted the bag onto her shoulder and carried her boots with her to the door. She could make it. She was finally going to get out from under Alice's thumb. Navy may have looked scary and tough to the rest of New York and whilst she was to an extent, Bess had never been scared of her sister.

_ Jesus, Mary an’ Joseph. I told you already! No larking about with the lads on the street. It'll all end in tears. Yer supposed to be an example to our little’uns - at least make a bloody effort. Useless, I swear down. _

And then her elaborately built plan came crashing down. She brushed Bear's leg with her bag on her way past and the small teenager mumbled quietly before rolling over to face her.

He blinked, trying to clear his bleary vision before noticing her.

“aghhh. Hey Besssieee...did I sleep through the circulation bell again?” Bear began to sit up.

She reacted quickly shushing him and pushing him lightly to lie back down.

“No, the Bell's not going to come for a few hours yet, just lie back down and go to sleep”

Bear finally seemed to notice the bundles she held in the bag she normally reserved for newspapers.

“Bess, where are you going. Tell it to me straight.”

“Nowhere Bear, it don't matter. Ignore it. Go back to-”

“ _ Bess _ .”

She sighed. She couldn't lie to him. She began to usher him outside with her, once again shushing him.

Once they had made it outside with the door safely pulled to, she leaned up against the wall of the bunkhouse.

“I'm leaving, Bear.”

“Yeah, well I can see that” He scoffed “but what I wanna know is why”

She looked him in the eye and gave him the most steely and serious look she could conjure up.

“I can't stand it anymore Bear. I'm gonna stay in the city but I'm getting far away from here. She dragged me to this country and now she wants full control of my life” she ranted, gesturing wildly, “Well she ain't getting it. I want some time to myself. You gotta promise me that you ain't gonna rat me out. You don't tell her about my floorboard and you  _ don't  _ tell her you’s seen me leavin’. You got that?”

Bear combed a hand through his tousled hair, muttering quietly to himself before speaking.

“Alright Bess. I's gonna cover for you, but you gotta promise me you'll come home sometime. Or...or if you ain't gonna do that at least write me. You’s been my best friend since we was kids - I'm not abandonin’ you.”

His final statement was accompanied by the choke one gave when trying to hold in tears. He suddenly clasped her tight in his arms, head resting on her shoulder; she felt warm tears begin to soak her dress as they stood there.

She gradually moved her arms from the rigid position they'd been in by her sides, unclenched her fists and held onto his back.

She was doing this for freedom, she reminded herself. She wasn't abandoning her best friend. Just teaching her sister a lesson for once. Just this once.

_ ‘Yeah, but Navy could never run this place without you,’  _ She thought.

_ 'shut up. Stop being stupid. She doesn't need you, she’s made that clear enough before. You're an annoyance. Another daily trouble for her highness to deal with. May as well clear off out of her way’, _ this time far more confident in her choice.

They stayed there by the door, the moon just barely illuminating their figures, stood amongst the inky black. Eventually Bear let go, held up a finger to her and stepped into the bunkhouse. He returned with a few items: Dodger's compass, a high-quality red handkerchief and finally an engraved sigil ring with the initials  _ U. F. _

She gasped. “Bear...  _ Tolya _ . I can't take this. That's your mother's. It's all you've got left”

He threaded the ring on a long, green ribbon produced from his pocket and carefully fixed it around her neck.

“Take it, mama would've wanted it to go on an adventure. Before you say too, the hanky is mine. I swiped it a while ago but didn't wanna pawn it, and I know Dodger's gonna miss his compass for a bit- but if Navy thinks there was a thief in the Bunkhouse she's gonna prioritise that as leader and investigate first. No matter how much she'll want to chase you down.”

He drew her into a far shorter hug than before and then pulled back, watching. As a final movement he retrieved her cap from its position at the top of her bag and placed it on her head firmly, angled downwards to hide her eyes.

Nodding, he turned to leave, moving to open the door.

“Goodbye, Anatoliy. I'll see you again” came a quiet utterance. He acted as if he hadn't heard the sentence and simply continued to open the door, silently slipping back into the building and presumably to his bed, close to the entrance.

She turned on an about face, looking at the street lamps much further ahead, a beacon for travellers in the darkness.

She took a deep breath and began at a brisk pace down the streets.

_ I'm not running. This isn't running away. This isn't abandoning. This is freedom. My freedom. _

**Author's Note:**

> The Lodging House that Bess is from is actually an abandoned apartment block in the outskirts between Brooklyn and the populated areas of Queens. Her sister- Navy- runs this lodging house, allowing any street-kids Newsies or otherwise to stay with here- almost as a giant family.
> 
> Navy frequently clashes with Spot due to his desire to have full control of Brooklyn, but has previously demonstrated her ability to declare war, so they rest with unspoken territory lines and unease between them- leading to Navy's testy relationship with her sister and other Newsie leaders.
> 
> Bess and Navy themselves are from England and the dynamic between them is coarse and overprotective older sibling Vs undermining and quietly furious younger sibling.  
> If you want to know anything historically about their Dad's origin I'd point you towards the Wikipedia article for the Lancashire Cotton Famine in the 1860s
> 
> Bess's friend Anatoliy/Tolya/Bear will probably be expanded upon whenever I have the time or energy to write about him- for now: he and Bess have been close friends since childhood, he is a Jewish Russian immigrant, who moved to America when he was a child.


End file.
